The Baalke Effect...

I gotta say, with the new league year soon getting under way and the 9ers seemingly involved with numerous "supposed" trade rumors, it is interesting how much Baalke's GM style has effected me. With the success over the past two years or so and the personnel decisions that have been made (ie. rewarding "in-house" players as opposed to shopping for high-priced replacements, waiting for the second wave of free agency to hit as opposed to jumping on the big names and moving around the drafts to accumulate stock for the future, etc.), I have become a true believer.

I, like many fans I would assume, used to always want to snag a big name in free agency or make a blockbuster trade for a high draft pick, but after watching the success Baalke and Co. have brought to the team with their philosophy, I am on board. When I read articles about our "interest" in guys like Revis, Harvin, Bowe, etc., I kind of laugh it off as uninformed media folks writing about what they don't know a thing about. On that note, Mike Sando who covers the NFC West for ESPN, is about the only writer I have seen shoot down most of these rumors...because he actually pays attention to the team.

In past years, I would have liked the idea of grabbing a Revis or a Bowe (and to be honest, I do kind of like the potential of a Harvin/Kaepernick combo), but not anymore. Baalke, at least to this point, has really shown he knows what the heck he is doing and it would be tough to challenge his philosophy at this point.

i think everyone in the NFL can see now how amazingly awesome Baalke is. Sport writers and analysts said we only get a 5th for Alex smith and a third at best but somehow he pulled off a high 2nd round pick and a possible high pick next year. ALL HAIL BAALKE!!!!

Baltimore Ravens going to wish they had Trent Baalke.

Yeah, especially after giving Flake-o 6 years $120 mil .... they just effectively killed their franchise. Good for them! They deserve it.

Originally posted by Beeker:
Yeah, especially after giving Flake-o 6 years $120 mil .... they just effectively killed their franchise. Good for them! They deserve it.

Flacco better learn the pistol read option because that's what's coming. lol

Flacco couldnt run a read option play if he tried too much pocket passer in his style for taking off with the ball successfully.

I was just thinking about this too. We have 15 picks and we do not need much. We have rookies and second year players who we have yet to see play, and now we are bringing in an extra group of rookies. After this free agency and draft, we could be set up for the next few years.

Originally posted by Young2Rice:

Originally posted by Beeker:
Yeah, especially after giving Flake-o 6 years $120 mil .... they just effectively killed their franchise. Good for them! They deserve it.

Flacco better learn the pistol read option because that's what's coming. lol

I laughed for real out load. But point is Colin is going to command a contract of 100+ million soon too. Along with aldon were going to be looking at about 200+ million for 2 players, No including resign of Mike and Davis. Better draft colins replacement now cause were not going to have the money to resign him. Hell might want to lock him up long term now before it get's out of hand.

Originally posted by SJniner7:
I was just thinking about this too. We have 15 picks and we do not need much. We have rookies and second year players who we have yet to see play, and now we are bringing in an extra group of rookies. After this free agency and draft, we could be set up for the next few years.

We're obviously going to be trading around. In the past decade or so, the most draft picks in one draft has been 12 or 13. With the roster that we have, Baalke can feel free to aggressively go after guys that he feels good about, without any fear of picking up a bad player.

I actually hope we keep a lot of our picks though. My thought process is that if the draft is a crapshoot, load up on picks and hope you get lucky with some of them.

Originally posted by TheGoldDiggerrrr:

Originally posted by Young2Rice:

Originally posted by Beeker:
Yeah, especially after giving Flake-o 6 years $120 mil .... they just effectively killed their franchise. Good for them! They deserve it.

Flacco better learn the pistol read option because that's what's coming. lol

I laughed for real out load. But point is Colin is going to command a contract of 100+ million soon too. Along with aldon were going to be looking at about 200+ million for 2 players, No including resign of Mike and Davis. Better draft colins replacement now cause were not going to have the money to resign him. Hell might want to lock him up long term now before it get's out of hand.

Damn no way we let a franchise QB walk. Pay the man and draft well.

Originally posted by TheGoldDiggerrrr:
I laughed for real out load. But point is Colin is going to command a contract of 100+ million soon too. Along with aldon were going to be looking at about 200+ million for 2 players, No including resign of Mike and Davis. Better draft colins replacement now cause were not going to have the money to resign him. Hell might want to lock him up long term now before it get's out of hand.

This is TRUE. People talk so much about how we'll free up $11+ million or so by getting rid of Alex Smith and David Akers, but they don't realize that our starting quarterback will be negotiating for a new contract as early as next year. They don't realize that we have, perhaps, the league's best young pass-rusher in the same boat. Goldson needs a long-term contract... Iupati... Davis... Crabtree (who just broke out as a 1100 yard receiver at the best possible time in his career)...

Sure, we can afford guys for the next year, but I think the team is better off signing young rookies, building them up, and preparing for the inevitable fact that we can't re-sign everyone. Dashon Goldson is probably the first guy we'll lose. I can see us losing Iupati or Davis soon too.

For the people that know the salary cap and the rules... what if we had a very modest free agency and draft.. and ended up with some extra cap space, like... I dunno, $5 million? Can Baalke negotiate restructured contracts with players so that their cap hit is more this year, rather than future years? In other words, maybe allocate some of Ahmad Brooks or Navorro Bowman's new contracts to the coming season, that way it doesn't hit us too bad when their cap figure escalates in the future?

Originally posted by Wubbie:
This is TRUE. People talk so much about how we'll free up $11+ million or so by getting rid of Alex Smith and David Akers, but they don't realize that our starting quarterback will be negotiating for a new contract as early as next year. They don't realize that we have, perhaps, the league's best young pass-rusher in the same boat. Goldson needs a long-term contract... Iupati... Davis... Crabtree (who just broke out as a 1100 yard receiver at the best possible time in his career)...

Sure, we can afford guys for the next year, but I think the team is better off signing young rookies, building them up, and preparing for the inevitable fact that we can't re-sign everyone. Dashon Goldson is probably the first guy we'll lose. I can see us losing Iupati or Davis soon too.

For the people that know the salary cap and the rules... what if we had a very modest free agency and draft.. and ended up with some extra cap space, like... I dunno, $5 million? Can Baalke negotiate restructured contracts with players so that their cap hit is more this year, rather than future years? In other words, maybe allocate some of Ahmad Brooks or Navorro Bowman's new contracts to the coming season, that way it doesn't hit us too bad when their cap figure escalates in the future?

This is an interesting idea, especially if they don't resign Goldson. Redoing the deals of some of our stars to pay them more up front in 2013 isn't a bad idea if we let Goldson walk.

As for Colin Kaepernick, I can't say for certain, but he doesn't strike me as a QB that will seek a record breaking contract. He comes across as a guy that wants to win now and later and hopefully will go the Tom Brady route (big money, but not cap busting money) to ensure we can keep a fair number of our core players.

I suggested that we extend/restructure Manningham's deal. It would lower his cap figure to around a million for next year, and give him an extension of 2 years, 4 million which may be more than he would get on his own. If he recovers, he's due about 4 million in 2014 and 2015. If he doesn't, we can release him or release him outright and do an injury settlement. I'm hoping the latter does not happen however. They could also extend/redo Justin Smith's deal. Add in the release or Akers, Haralson, and possibly Goodwin, and we could have nearly 20 million in extra cap space. It would be great if we had an idea of what the cap was going to look like in 2015, but until then, I expect a lot of maneuvering to hold onto our key players.

Good Post!

We are NOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT letting Kap walk - that's ridiculous at best. We'll get a deal done - no problem.

Also VERY happy if we abandon the Revis crap. Years ago when we were desperate - evryone seeme to be "The" guy that would take us to the promised land.

As to you title - "The Baalke Effect" - good one. He is so very smart and has done a tremendous job. Many here in the Zone were saying, "Who are we going to keep, Willis or Navarro?" Baakle got both of them and added Brooks for good measure!!

Now, he is poised to build a dynasty through the draft. What's really exciting is he is so unpredictable.

I could see him, PROBABLY WON'T HAPPEN, trading #31 + a few other picks to the Jets and getting their #1 next year. Which will probably be the first overall selection. Who knows?

At any rate we are VERY fortunate to have him as our GM and JH as our HC.

Significant FAs for the 2014 offseason include: Donte Whitner, Justin Smith, Tarell Brown, and Jonathan Goodwin.

Don't be surprised if the replacements for several of those guys are found in this draft. None of them will receive a major long-term commitment that would hamper our ability to lock up our younger guys down the road.

Significant FAs for the 2015 offseason include: Colin Kaepernick, Michael Crabtree, Aldon Smith, Anthony Davis, Mike Iupati, Frank Gore, and Chris Culliver.


In order to prepare for the 2015 offseason, I think you'll see us avoid any guarantees to Dashon Goldson beyond 2 years. He will command a longer term deal obviously, but he'll receive most of his money up front. 2014 will likely be Frank's last year with us, so that won't be a concern. It is going to take some creative juggling to get Kap, Crab, Aldon, Davis, and Iupati all locked up, but I think it can and will be done.

I think the stockpiling of draft picks this year has a lot to do with the offseason of 2015. The more young, cheap talent we can add through the draft, the easier it becomes to retain all of those guys.

Originally posted by LasVegasWally:
Good Post!

We are NOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT letting Kap walk - that's ridiculous at best. We'll get a deal done - no problem.

Also VERY happy if we abandon the Revis crap. Years ago when we were desperate - evryone seeme to be "The" guy that would take us to the promised land.

As to you title - "The Baalke Effect" - good one. He is so very smart and has done a tremendous job. Many here in the Zone were saying, "Who are we going to keep, Willis or Navarro?" Baakle got both of them and added Brooks for good measure!!

Now, he is poised to build a dynasty through the draft. What's really exciting is he is so unpredictable.

I could see him, PROBABLY WON'T HAPPEN, trading #31 + a few other picks to the Jets and getting their #1 next year. Which will probably be the first overall selection. Who knows?

At any rate we are VERY fortunate to have him as our GM and JH as our HC.

If we do add Revis, we can always cut him or trade him after two years so as not to interfere with giving the other guys their payday in 2015 and beyond.

I don't think we will add Revis, but if we do it's just Baalke trying to take advantage of the 2-year window we have before the 2015 offseason when a lot of our big names hit free agency.